Sassy Radish

For me vacations are about three things: rest, food and friends. Put those three elements together and the combination is unsurpassed. If you take the best of people, the best of food, and things that relax you and throw them together, you’ve got yourself a vacation that goes down the memory lane as truly unforgettable.

So when you put three college friends together, give them the freedom to roam vineyards and eat the freshest produce, it’s bound to get incredible. This is only a part of what we plan on doing:

drinking:
Clos Du Val
Etude
Grgich Hills
Frog’s Leap
Sterling
Duckhorn

eating
Terra Restaurant
Auberge du Soleil

Not to mention our plans on making a home-cooked meal using local ingredients, sampling some olive oil, nibbling on some cheese, and indulging in some gourmet chocolate.

My interest in food peaked when I was a teenager in order to seem sophisticated, well-brought up, and well-rounded. Back then, my palate was not trained to taste the intricacies of quality vanilla, nuances of wine and notes of coffee. But, the palate can be trained and through tasting new things, reading about food, sampling new ingredients, my palate began to differentiate between Hersheys and Maison du Chocolat, between Kraft cheddar and cheddar imported from Ireland, between Dunkin Donuts and Peet’s.

This vacation is all about expanding the palate, reawakening it to taste, freshness and balance. I want my tastebuds to be surprised by an unusual combination of flavors, by a quirky wine/food pairing, by something I’ve never before tasted.

Here’s raising a glass to a delectable trip, with stories and pictures to follow.

Bon Appetit!

As if it had read my mind, the New York Times’ Dining & Wine section prominently features an article on the langoustine. I’ve been meaning to write on them – I’ve had a craving as of late. However, the intrepid food writers at the NYT beat me to the punch. Figures. They, unlike ahem, say, me, get paid to write about food. I just have stolen moments.

Looking like little lobsters, langoustines have a pristeen and delicate taste, far superior to the flavor of their larger cousin. The meat is more delicate, balanced. Though hardly of noble existence, langoustines, as well as lobsters, and other who’s who on the fruits de mer platter, scavengers that they are, langoustines are a delicacy, appearing at high-end restaurants for a memorable price.

Its delicate flavor yielding itself to many a dish, I agree with Mr. Apple in that the flavors of langoustines are best displayed in their most simple preparations. But while Mr. Apple suggests that you add some hot sauce or mayonnaise to a heaping pot of freshly-boiled langoustines, I raise his suggestion and give you an even simpler one.

A few pointers, I think that oil or butter messes with the fine tasting notes of langoustines. Which is why I don’t recommend a condiment. You wouldn’t ruin a good oyster with any mignonette, why would you mess with the most naturally delicious meat?

While most people will give you wine pairings, I’ll suggest that you forgo wine here altogether. In fact, to better taste the sweetness of langoustines, you should pair it with a light beer. A Sapporo goes perfectly with the flavors.

If, however, you find yourself somewhere in France, say, La Rochelle, for example, be sure to order yourself the biggest platter of fruits de mer the menu offers – and taste the freshest, most delicious seafood ever.

On hot and muggy summer nights, such as ones we’re getting in New York right now, it’s hard to develop much of an appetite. It’s also hard to muster any desire to cook. Diets become salads and fruit. Water consumption grows. White wine replaces red, at least for the time being.

I have been in study mode and so cooking until I am done with studying is out of the questions. Hence I cheat. Here, that is. I think of recipes and articles to post for you all to read that doesn’t require me actually cooking anything at the moment. Forgive me my sins so far, I promise that I’ll make this site worth your while.

And so. Back to the sticky weather. Last night I returned home in a foul mood. My day went from magically lucky to horribly wrong. I won’t go into the sordid details, but I almost broke down in tears on the phone when a rather sensitive issue was brought up. Something had to change in my day and that something had to be food.

Now, I am not suggesting that every time you have a bad day, you seek out food as therapy. That could run dangerous. But I do think that a glass of lemonade, some tea, a bit of port – life’s little luxuries – will brighten up your day and calm you a bit.

I raided my fridge only to find some chocolates, chilled white wine, hummus, bread, raspberries & cream. Instantly, I remembered a dessert a friend of mine and I used to make in school. She grew up with an English nanny and remembered her nanny giving her raspberries & cream for dessert in the summer. It was light, delicious and most of all, a little luxurious pampering I needed.

In less than a minute, I had myself a heaping bowl of fresh raspberries coated with cream. It was joyous! It was better than anything I had all day. And I instantly had a smile on my face. My otherwise horrid day disappeared into memory land.

The process is quite simple: